I had a dream. There were two babies in the dream, one was my daughter and the other baby was unfamiliar to me. My daughter was being loved and taken care of well, the other baby looked alone and unloved. My daughter was well-fed and the other baby was not fed, looked horrible. As I was watching this in my dream, I woke up searching for the other baby. It was so real, that for a moment, I thought I had twins and one of them was not taken care of. When I came back to my senses, God corrected Me in Love about something…Buckle up…

A Short background for the dream:
I got married on 2013 and waited for 2 years under God’s instruction, to prepare myself to be a Good Father. God is the best model of a Good Father and I started learning from Him on how to be a Good Dad. I wanted to raise my kids as Crazy God Lovers, had no place in mind of them becoming doctors or engineers or whatever every parent desire for their children. I had prepared myself to raise my children in God’s way, telling them that it’s not about money, it’s not about studying and getting a job to settle in life, it’s not about doing what everybody does. I was pumped up to tell them that life is all about God. Okay…Wait…I said, a short background. Fast forward>>>>…March 21, 2016- God blessed us with a Baby girl. I was so excited and charged up to raise my daughter to be a God Lover and World changer. I was focused on protecting my daughter from wrong influence and building a ground for her to grow up in God’s presence. Sleepless nights became the norm and one early morning, during one of the little sleep I get, I had a dream.

Back to the Dream:
Two babies…My daughter and another baby…Healthy and weak…Loved and unloved…Woke up…Thought I had twins…When I came back to my senses, God said to me-“Son, you are raising your daughter to be a Crazy Lover of Me, a Mighty World changer. Well and Good, but you have taken a break from serving other people. The other baby- the Church and the people of the world. You should do both. Get back to Work, Son”.

I took a break from building up the Church and serving people to focus on My Daughter for a time. Even though, I did a few wonderful Kingdom works in this period, it was only those that came to my table, I didn’t initiate anything and I didn’t want to initiate anything for a certain time. I “thought” I was right(the biggest problem with us, humans, we always THINK we are right), but God said I was wrong even though what I was doing was good. The Greatest failure of the Church is not the practice of something evil but the practice of doing good that is outside God. If I just focus on My Daughter, I will be fueling one God Lover and World changer but if I also gave my time for fueling others, then there will be more God Lovers and World changers. God wanted me to do both.

A Christian’s Step 1:-
We are all familiar with the steps to become a Christian but we have messed up the steps that need to be taken after becoming Christian. We have been taught, We think, now that we are saved we must get connected with a Church and read our Bibles daily. But what Jesus asked us to do is something out of world when compared to what the Church is doing. The Moment we accept Jesus, we lose our right to be normal. We can’t live the same old “Eat, Earn, Sleep” life because Jesus is our Lord now. Jesus said-

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”. Luke 14:26(ESV)

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple”. Luke 14:33(ICB)

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me”. Matthew 16:24(NLT)

You can become a Christian by believing in Jesus but to Live as a Christian, to become a disciple, you have to turn your back on everyone and everything. Dadda and Momma, Spouse and your kids, Friends and your Relatives, Job and your Hobbies, everything in your life must go behind you and only Jesus must before you. You must stop living for yourself and your family, and start living for Jesus and His Kingdom. You can’t live like everybody else, you have to put Jesus first. Priority…You don’t throw your Loved ones out and stop going to work after accepting Jesus. Jesus is not asking us to leave everyone and everything to sit under a tree with a half naked outfit. The One who asked us to Honor our Parents will not ask us to hate them. When your Love Jesus so big and you give Him first priority everything, it will look like you hate everything else. You don’t hate your Loved ones but when your Love for Jesus is so big, it will look like hate.When you choose Jesus above your Loved ones, they may think that you hate them.

The popular saying “Family first and Ministry second” is not biblical. The First Great Commandment is to Love God and Jesus asked us to Seek His Kingdom FIRST. What about Family? Wait a minute…Your job is to Love God and be busy doing the works of the Kingdom. Your job also includes leading your Family to Love God and become busy in the works of the Kingdom. At the end of the day, you and your family together are focused on God and His Kingdom. There is nothing called spiritual and secular, family and ministry, everything is mixed up, God must be all in all and we must be Kingdom-minded no matter what we are doing.You push aside what I’m saying as “radical and practical”, but you must understand that this is what Jesus meant when He said-“Leave everything and Leave everyone to follow Me”.

But seek “first” the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33(ESV)

Stop giving lame excuses, Stop giving dumb reasons:
You may give throw excuses and give reasons to God for the way you live but you must understand that God is not signing everything you send him saying “ACCEPTED”. All your excuses and reasons get rejected in heaven. “I’m busy with my job”, “My friends took me out”, “I have a Family and I don’t think I’m called to do the works of the Kingdom, I will give offerings” are some of the stupid reasons Christians give. Just because you have a good reason doesn’t mean Jesus is going to change the first step of living as a Christian. It is always-“Leave everything and everyone behind to follow Me”. I don’t have time, I’m busy- you say. Kingdom First, says God. I’m a home maker, I have kids, I’m the CEO, I’m struggling in life. Kingdom first fella.

If you have not taken that first step of devaluing everything and valuing Jesus above everything, then you have not started your Christian life. If you are not living a life sold out for Jesus and His Kingdom, you are miles away from pleasing Him. It is not just for the Missionaries, it is for everyone. Martha was busy cooking the pizza Jesus didn’t order and Mary was busy gazing at Jesus. According to popular beliefs, Mary must be in the Kitchen helping her sister but Jesus appreciated Mary and not Martha. Like Martha, most Christians are busy in the kitchen and are not doing what Jesus wants them to do. Jesus wants you to turn your back on everything to follow Him, He wants you to give your life for His Kingdom, He wants you to sacrifice yourself to serve others.

The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. There’s only one thing you need.Mary has made the right choice, and that one thing will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41,42(GW)

What’s the Connection between the Dream and the Message?:
Even though I was focusing on raising my daughter to be a God Lover and World changer, God stopped me and corrected me. If He rebuked me for this, how much more will He if you are focused on living a “eat, earn, sleep” life, if you have not yet turned your back on everything to follow Him, if you have not yet given yourself completely for His Kingdom. Think about that…You maybe right in your own eyes, in the eyes of your family and friends, in the eyes of your pastor and your fellow believers but in the eyes of God, are you right??. If you are not living a sold out life for Jesus, if you are mind is not filled with thoughts on how to expand the Kingdom and how to make Jesus known to the world and how can I serve people like Jesus, you have not yet started your Christian life. The dream was shocker for me, His rebuke shook me because I was doing something for Him. If that is the case, then what will it be, if you have not yet made the decision, made the U-turn from everything and everyone to live for Jesus alone. Think about that…We have created our own Doll like Jesus, who doesn’t tell us what to do and let’s us live normal. Time to change…

I have decided not to let the other baby starve, my question to you is- Do you have the other baby? Have you sacrificed your life to serve others? Have you given your life completely for Jesus and the work of His Kingdom?…If Yes, are you doing it right? If No, when will you start now? Now is always the right time.